Year 8: Week 29 - Dear Band Parents

Dear 6th grade band parents,

I wanted to send you a note about this great year we’ve had in band class.

One of the ideas we’ve talked about since the beginning of the year is that the someone’s character as a person, and their musicianship is not defined by their mistakes but rather how they react to them. In the music classroom as well as in life, it’s not a question of whether you are going to make a mistake, they are inevitable, it’s a question of what you do when mistakes happen.

During the last song the 6th grade band played during the 6th grade performance evening presentation, Udala’m, the band almost fell apart. Some students were playing slightly faster than other students, and the groove of the song that we established earlier in the song started to fall apart. As a conductor, I quickly started making calculations on whether or not I was going to stop the song and restart, or = let the band keep going. But something magical happened, every single person in the band kept playing, no one gave up, and the band pulled back to together, the groove lined up, and we ended strong.

As I told the students right after the performance, this was a special moment. This was on each of the students in the ensemble, feeling something not going right, experiencing a group mistake, and with determination, and focus, pulling the band back together. This amazing musical moment, and the way they fixed this by themselves (nothing I did in that moment fixed the issue), was a wonderful example of their strength and growth as musicians.

The musical progress this year is tremendous. Starting at the beginning of the year, we were teaching students how to hold the instrument and creating sounds that could only loosely be defined as musical. Starting from there to where we ended the year, playing music as a large ensemble is a significant accomplishment. I am very proud of this musical growth.

There is one more accomplishment I left the 6th graders with that I want to share with you. The 6th grade band was open and excited about learning music from other cultures. By studying music of other cultures, and performing this music with reverence and care, the band students expressed to people of those cultures in our community that they are valued and important. At the same time, their work gave an important window to all to the wonderful diversity in our world.

I hope you all have a great summer, and that your time is a productive, and as restful as you desire. Thanks for your support, and for the privilege of teaching your children.